Time Heals Wounds
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Regina is at a loss when Henry begins pushing her away in his search to find his biological family. On an online adoption forum, she finds a fellow adoptive parent, Robin.


Regina had never thought she was one to need support groups or anything of the sort. Despite her social worker warning her that it was a difficult process, she was determined to make it work on her own. Besides, she had her own support system. Even though she had no biological family to speak of anymore, there was Mary Margaret and David who were parents themselves, Liam Gold and Mal-respective single mother and father. Sure, neither of the latter had done it through adoption (Liam's wife had left him for a sailor and Mal had chosen to get a sperm donor), but she had plenty of support. That's what she clung to and it was enough, for the first 10 years anyway.

Yes, for the first 10 years of sleepless nights, dirty diapers, nightmares, lullabies, Goodnight Moon, action figures, homework and more, she had her support system to fall back on. They were all parents who got it. They had kids who were either Henry's age or a bit older, so they understood what she was going through. It takes a village was a bit cliché for her taste, but they had developed a bit of a community between themselves. Playdates, sleepovers, holidays, soccer games and so much more were spent together, where they could all understand one another. Even Mary Margaret and David, the odd married couple, seemed to fit in and offered some kind of perspective when one of the singles would venture out and date. Plus, it meant that they were the go-to sitters for that time.

Then, Henry uttered the words that Regina hadn't known she had been dreading.

"You're not my real mom!"

She and Henry were going through a rough patch, that just seemed to start off by pre-teen angst. Everything was an argument and he was grunting a lot more, rather than smiling. Regina swore that she was supposed to have a few more years before she had this version of her son, but Mal assured her that this was normal. Lily had begun pulling away from her around the same age and there was nothing she could do but remind her daughter that she needed to respect her mother, while also being there to lend an ear. So, that was what Regina had done for Henry. Things didn't get better, but they were manageable at first, or so she thought anyway.

Then Henry started digging into his biological history. He had always known that he was adopted, Regina had never wanted to keep it a secret. She found age appropriate ways to bring it up since he was a toddler. However, there wasn't much she could share with him. Regina had started the process with her husband but Daniel passed away a year before she got that call. While the agency hadn't minded the change, a lot of perspective mothers had. Regina and Daniel began looking for an open adoption, but it ended with a call from a woman who wanted a closed one and didn't even want to meet Regina. Henry could reach out at 18, but that was about it. In Henry's 10-year-old mind, that was all his mother's fault.

After yet another failed called with the agency, Henry blew up yet again. Regina tried to get him to calm down, but it failed and ended with those dreaded five words. She was left standing stunned, while he looked angrier than she had ever seen.

"Well," she said, her voice hoarse. "I certainly feel real." Henry didn't respond, he simply blinked. She knew he was angry and deep down, that he didn't mean it, but if she didn't send him away, that he'd say something worse that he couldn't take back. "You need time to cool off. Go to your room."

For once, she didn't receive any back talk. He turned around and stormed up the stairs, heading straight for his room. The minute his door slammed shut, Regina allowed the tears to fall and she ran her fingers through her hair. He was only 10, she tried to remind herself. He didn't mean it; he was going through a rough time and he needed some help adjusting. She could get him some therapy, yes, she knew a great therapist.

Once her plan for Henry was sorted, she allowed herself to fall apart. She sunk down onto the grey ottoman and let herself cry, burying her face into her hands. For the past 10 years, Henry had been her entire life. She hadn't thought of anything much outside of him. Now, it seemed like he wanted anything but her. It wasn't odd for a kid for his age range, but there was more there than just typical pre-teen angst, more than anyone in her friend group could help her with. Even Mal knew her sperm donor, Lily wrote him letters and saw him once or twice a year. He wasn't a father by any means, but he was there. Liam could tell Bae anything he wanted to know about Milah. Mary Margaret and David didn't even have to worry about this at all when it came to their kids. Adoption was a whole other ball game.

For the first time in a long time, Regina felt seriously alone in parenting.

She allowed herself to wallow in pity for a bit, before going into the kitchen and pouring some red wine. A glass and a half, along with two bars of the good Spanish dark chocolate in, and she was Googling about the situation at hand. She somehow found herself on a forum for adoption, with different parents discussing it. As she was reading through the responses, one stuck out to her in particular. It was a man, who also had adopted as a single parent.

Regina settled onto the bar stool, setting down her glass and staring at the screen. He explained that his son had said this to him and he had simply let the little kid come to him. It had only been about an hour since Henry had said those heart shattering words to her and she had been debating making his favorites. Clicking on his profile (arrowman301), she decided to make her own to contact him.

Robin finished up the last line of the book, glancing down at Roland as he did. A smile tugged across his lips when he realized that his son was fast asleep. He set the book down onto the nightstand, pressed a kiss to his forehead before carefully getting out bed and sneaking out of the bedroom, as to not wake him up. Roland slept a lot better since he had when he first came to live with him, but he was still cautious, the little boy was such a light sleeper.

He got that from his mother.

Robin could feel his smile growing sad, but fought it off. He walked into the living room and tidied up the various action figures, Legos and cars, doing his best not to accidentally step on anything that made noise. Today had been a good day, one of many lately. There had been more sunshine stickers vs. the raincloud ones, an improvement from the year before. A lot had certainly changed in what seemed like a short period of time now that things were better, but it hadn't felt like it during the adjustment period.

Once the living room was tidied up, he headed into the kitchen. He settled into booth that surrounded the cozy breakfast nook and flipped open his laptop. As he scanned his e-mails, he realized he had an update from the adoption forum he hadn't touched over the past few months. He would've just ignored it, if it hadn't been in response to the topic so close to his heart.

Her username was applequeen815 and she had a standard avatar, the account made a mere hour prior. The message was carefully typed and clearly passionate, even from the start.

_arrowman301,_

_I read your post with your advice towards the woman who's daughter had told her that she wasn't her "real mom". I was wondering how you stayed that strong during all of that? My son just told me this tonight and it's taking all I have to not rush up there and hug him tight and never let go. This is probably silly to admit to a stranger; I just can't imagine opening up to anyone else like this. I don't have anyone else in my "real world" that gets adoption._

_-Regina_

Robin's heart warmed at this message. He could feel the plight of this mother and understood what it was like to have no one that really understood. He had John, Mulan, Merida and Will, but they weren't kid people much less the type to know much about adoption. That forum had been his saving grace for last minute questions he had in between meetings with his social worker. From the green dot on her profile he knew that Regina was still online, so he decided to write her back.

_Regina,_

_Don't feel weird writing me at all. I totally get not having anyone in your "real world" to talk about this with. Despite adoption being so common worldwide, I've found it's not so much in friend and family circles. I don't frequent this forum as often as I did when I officially adopted my son, but I'll be happy to help you through this._

_First off, I'm sorry you had to hear this and that you're going through it. I'm sure it had to hurt. Know he doesn't mean it. He'll tell you that, at some point. Whether it's today or tomorrow or whenever. You're his mom and he loves you. You're the one that's cared for him._

_Second, the patience wasn't easy, but I knew that anything else would've just angered him more. I let him stew in his feelings. In my son-Roland's case-his mama had just died. Our case is a bit unique. His mama and I were always very good friends when she got sick. I agreed to adopt him when she passed. He was four at the time and struggled greatly. We found our footing._

_I don't know your situation with your son, but you will too._

_-Robin_

Regina woke up the next morning, Robin's words washed over her. She kept in mind as she made breakfast and while she fixed some coffee. It wasn't easy, but just as she had done everything over the past 10 years, it was for Henry. She made a call to Archie, not just for Henry, but for herself too.

The door opened halfway through the eggs frying in the pan and the coffee gurgling in the pot. Socks dragged down the stairs and into the kitchen. Regina didn't turn around, remembering Robin's words to let Henry come to her. She tended to the breakfast, watching out of the corner of her eye as Henry dropped into the chair at the table. He was watching her intently, his face showing that he hadn't slept very much.

"Mom?"

Regina paused. "Yes?"

"I…I'm sorry. I still want to know more, but I shouldn't have said that. You're…you're my mom."

Regina shut off the stove and turned around. "Yes, I am. I always will be, no matter what." She walked over and settled down beside him, taking hold of his hand. "We're going to get through this, Henry. I promise"

Henry nodded. "I love you, Mom."

Regina felt her heart crack open. "I love you too, my little prince. More than you'll ever know."

She wrapped him into her arms and kissed the top of his head, inhaling the top of his head as she did.

Once the hug was through, she finished up breakfast and got a ding on her phone. An e-mail from the adoption forum, indicating she had a message from Robin. He was asking how things were going. She grinned and clicked on his profile, noticing he put that he lived in New Glouster, Maine, which was only about 45 minutes away from Storybrooke.

_Robin,_

_It's going well. Maybe we could meet up for some coffee sometime to talk about this stuff, halfway?_

_-Regina_

Only 5 minutes later, she got a reply.

_I'd love to._


End file.
